SaaS Testing: Specifics, Scope, and Success Factors

With the advancement of the Cloud Computing concept in industries and research communities, SaaS platforms also acquired a remarkable place by providing diverse services on clouds. When the development process of the application gets completed, SaaS application testing comes into play where the whole duration of the testing cycle is decided on the basis of the type of software opted for service.

Furthermore, In a definition format, SaaS platform testing is defined as the method of checking the quality of the software by undergoing different validation activities. These involve testing performance, security, data integration, scalability, reliability, etc. Cisco Web-Ex, Google Apps, among others, are a few famous examples of SaaS applications that are easily available on the internet and do not require any installation.

In this competitive world, enterprises are continuously moving towards cloud computing and software delivery with SaaS models. The benefits it provides like ‘on-demand service’ and ‘pay per use’ are the major reasons behind it.

SaaS specifics

No matter whether you only plan to develop your SaaS solution, get started with it, or already offer software via a cloud by now – continuous testing is relevant. Foreseeably, the earlier you start with SaaS testing, the better. Here are some SaaS specifics that should influence your approach to testing at the different stages of the solution development and implementation

Scalable cloud resource consumption

Tenants primarily treasure SaaS for its ability to quickly and easily scale the number of users up and down. For this, many SaaS providers use auto-scaling cloud tools to help you save money by launching cloud resources. Simply the fact that you utilize such an auto-scaling tool doesn’t make you immune to non-optimal spending on cloud resource consumption.

Frequent and quick software updates, upgrades, and bug fixes

With SaaS, new features are released once a month or at least several times a year. You should also rapidly react and quickly fix all software defects detected by tenants, as SaaS subscribers expect reported bugs to be fixed within several hours or, in a worst-case scenario, days. Before- and after-release concerns.

Multi-tenancy

Multi-tenant architecture is highly popular among SaaS providers. It simplifies software maintenance and saves finance due to the reuse of the same cloud resources by different SaaS subscribers. Still, multi-tenancy may cause serious issues.

SaaS testing scope

Not to let SaaS specifics turn into burning issues, a test lead should develop a detailed and balanced test plan. The test plan should include all testing types required for on-premises solutions in accordance with SaaS specifics.

• Functional testing: With SaaS solutions, This testing validates the solution’s default functions and numerous configuration and customization opportunities, and their most predictable use cases.
• Performance testing: a test team should validate that it supports the required number of simultaneous users and verify that software response time, memory, and CPU utilization live up to the solution’s requirements. Test engineers also ensure the solution’s proper functioning under expected, stress, and continuous load.
• Compatibility testing: testing your SaaS solution so that it will be fully compatible with all possible browsers and their versions seem hardly feasible. 
• External API testing: API testing is used for before- and after-release SaaS testing. It checks whether your solution will be smoothly integrated with the rest of a tenant’s enterprise software or other third-party applications.

SaaS testing success factors

Things that can help your test lead to develop a thought-out and detailed SaaS test strategy and plan to address the potential SaaS problems and cover all the required testing types.

Continuous Integration/Continuous Delivery (CI/CD) methodology

If your SaaS solution hasn’t yet gone live, it’s a good thing to turn to the CI/CD methodology of software development. It enables software features and amendments to be delivered frequently and in small portions. With the CI/CD methodology, a large number of bugs can be found during testing of SaaS solutions. 

Risk-based testing

To ensure SaaS testing works for your business needs, a test team can go for risk-based testing. According to this concept, test cases that check software features that are most critical for tenants, where bugs are most likely to appear, and possible defects can cause the most damage and financial losses (like data leakage, damage or loss), are considered as a top priority. 

Test automation

A balanced ratio between manual and automated testing can help test teams to supply sufficient test coverage, meet strict iteration deadlines, and quickly validate critical software functions after updates and bug fixes. 

A proper testing environment

To minimize the number of bugs missed, SaaS testing should be performed in a staging environment. The staging environment allows test teams to fully check software functioning, security, recovery, and performance while preserving the production environment intact.

Why TestUnity?

Testunity is a SaaS-based technology platform that is driven by a vast community of tester and QA spread around the globe. We provide end to end software testing cycle and ensure the best results. Testunity works with a mission to bring down the cost of testing without compromising on the quality of the product. TestUnity has expertise in all testing domains and processes. We will help you in getting better and effective testing results without spending much of your software testing. Testunity helps in delivering the project on time and without any bugs or issues without the need to spend much on testing.

Contact us now to get in touch with one of the most efficient software testing company in the world.

TestUnity

Testunity is a SaaS-based technology platform driven by a vast community of testers & QAs spread around the world, powered by technology & testing experts to create the dedicated testing hub. Which is capable of providing almost all kind of testing services for almost all the platforms exists in software word.